Three correction officers resigned in August. The Sheriff’s Office also has asked that two part-time telecommunicator jobs it has had trouble filling be combined so a single full-time person can be hired.

The problem wasn’t resolved after the county last year accelerated step increases for the positions, which now go to step two after just three months — instead of one year — and to step three at the end of the first year, instead of two years.

“We’ve tried to move them up quicker,” Hamann said. “It may have helped a little bit, but I don’t think it’s enough. We need something even more to solve the issue.”

The committee also decided to start new employees in the two departments at step three, in addition to recommending the step increase to the full board.

Each step on the schedule in the pay grade for corrections officers and telecommunicators, which currently starts at $17.98 per hours, increases by about 2.5 percent.

Step three pay is $19 per hour. Step six — considered the comparable pay average under the county’s pay schedule — is $20.54. The top step of 11 is $23.11 per hour.

The increase, which would go into effect on Sept. 30 if approved by the board at its Sept. 20 meeting, would cost about $17,000 this year and about $70,000 more for 2019.

“We have to keep that facility staffed,” Hamann told the Law Enforcement/Judiciary Committee at its July meeting. “The other option is start closing it down, and we don’t want to do it after spending four years and $32 million to get (the new Law Enforcement Center) done.”

“We have to do something,” he added. “We’ve done a little bit. I don’t think it’s enough.”

The step increase was the most affordable alternative available to the committee. Raising the pay grade would cost $163,000 annually, while raising the grade and a step would run $230,000.

The increase was approved the Law Enforcement/Judiciary Committee in July and the Personal & Wages Committee in August.

There are numerous factors causing the shortage of people working in corrections, said Oconto County Jail Administrator Carol Kopp.

One primary factor was the implementation of Act 10 in 2011, she said, which, among other changes, weakened union rights for public workers, except those law enforcement officers and firefighters.

Before Act 10, the county would receive approximately 80 applications when it advertised for correctional officers once or twice a year. After the law went into effect, Kopp said the number of applicants — along with interest in the corrections profession — declined. That resulted in Northeast Wisconsin Tech College canceling its Correctional Science program a few years ago.

“Now we are also seeing the compounded effects of that, as there are no longer graduates from that program looking to be correctional officers,” Kopp said. “Many see the jail as a stepping stone to a road officer position, for which we have lost several staff over the years because they leave to be road officers.”

Another factor, said Chief Deputy Ed Janke, is that the jail is a 24-hour, year-round operation that is staffed by a rotating schedule, and many younger potential employees may get jobs with better days off, or may not want to work weekends.

For the past few years, the county has almost continuously advertised for corrections officers. Since May, Kopp has reviewed 28 applications, interviewing 10 and make job offers to two.

New legislation, however, may spur more applicants in Oconto and other counties.

Hamann said corrections officers might be given the same status as law enforcement officers and firefighters next year, which would restore their union rights and make them eligible for full pensions after 20 years of service.

A bill introduced in the Legislature last year would have given corrections officers that “protective” status but did not get a vote. However, Hamann said the Wisconsin Counties Association is expecting that bill to be re-introduced next session and more than likely will pass.